Question to disabled people, well anyone really.

Whilst the taxi driver was attempting to help by parking as close as he could, calling a woman ( or a man, or a child/ teenager) a ‘disabled’ it turn them into a ‘thing’ and is demeaning.Am sure there was no nastiness intended of course, but it’s an ignorant thing to do.

I think it is the same as referring to a person as a diabetic . They are someone who has diabetes not a diabetic .

As a pp has said, it’s common to use ‘working expressions’ between colleagues but when the passenger/patient/student whoever can hear you then it’s simply not acceptable.I’ve heard a taxi driver say to someone about me ‘can you give this lady a hand’ or words to that effect - but never ever in 20plus years of regular taxi use have I ever been referred to in my hearing as ‘a disabled’ . I’m just amazed at the apologists we get on GN - staggering

We are all just 'fares' to a taxi driver. He just happened to have a disabled one in that instance. Just a "working" expression.

I would imagine it would be wheelchair accessible - although, being India, there may have just been a lot of strong wiry blokes to assist. We were going on a safari and I found them very helpful as I sometimes had problems getting into the Gypsy trucks.

Differently abled isn’t a phrase I much care for as it’s fundementally meaningless - if it’s carriage that was wheelchair accessible it should just say that otherwise who was it meant for I wonder

On holiday in India a train came slowly past with a carriage marked “Differently Abled” along the side. I wonder if we’re all differently abled in one way or another.

MOnicas experiences are relevant as would be my dhs as he sees at first hand very often my problems and experiences

stree Where have I claimed to speak for the disabled?

I have merely given my personal, non-disabled view of the question informed by my experience when my daughter was disabled.

stree and you can’t speak on behalf of all disabled people either. I know many disabled people who are rightly imo furious at the dehumanising words used like a disabled. I follow Tanni GT on Twitter and other disabled people and there are lots of debates about this and many other issues - especially using public transport. TGT is furious when she’s referred to as a wheelchair as in ‘I’ve got two wheelchairs to load’ that is of course if passenger assistance has even bothered to turn up. BTW I use black cabs very frequently and they all take great care to drop me off as near as possible whilst being kind and polite - it’s not an either or.

I'm not disabled but have many friends active in the disability rights movement. This is an interesting article www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/22/language-of-disability-stereotypes-disabled-people

As probably was the taxi driver in question and showed it by the act of ensuring the most convenient parking place for his "disabled"
That to me would be noted in his favour and far outweigh his perhaps clumsy shorthand way of describing his passenger.
Monica, I think you are unwise to speak for the disabled when you are not yourself, whilst having every sympathy for your daughter and her situation it does not give you the right to sit in judgement on our behalf.
I am sure you meant well and felt indignant on our behalf, but believe me, most disabled I know and myself included have to be far more resilient than you abled.

I am not, but DD was for many months after being badly injured in a road accident, and we lived with her and nursed her through it. I also accompanied her for a week when she was going to work by taxi (from North Herts to Central London) when she was seeing if she could safely get back to work, without exacerbating her injury.

If anyone had described her as 'a disabled', as you might say 'a parcel' or 'a suitcase' I would have considered that a rude and dismissive way to describe a person and probably reported it. She was psychological as well as physically frail and a term like that would have deeply upset her. We had experienced her being distressed by quite harmless words and phrases we used once or twice.

As it was the taxi drivers whose cabs she occupied were kind, considerate and thoughtful of her injury.

Words come and go - what is PC one time, is not another. I worked most of my life with people with one disability or another and on the whole they did not much care about the language, but looked at the person's attitude.

It is also worth remembering that people who have a disability do also have a sense of humour!

To me it sounds thoughtless. He could just as well have said, "May I stop here, it would be easier for my passenger?"

It’s not really any different from referring to people with diabetes as diabetics.
But apparently some people take offence at that, on the grounds that they are being identified by their condition.
It’s their right to feel offended, but not their right to expect others to moderate their speech.
Turning adjectives into nouns and vice versa is a modern trend, not confined to descriptions of people.

Baggs

I am disabled , have a disability blue badge and get PIP because of my disability.

I would not be in the least bit upset as I am disabled and the word holds no form or degradation nor humiliation to me, it is a descriptive word nothing more nothing less.

It was obvious the taxi driver was giving a reason why he was requesting to drop off his passenger and the reason was his/her disability. He/she was disabled.

If the issue here is the taxi driver driver did not use the word ' passenger' then I'm sorry but it is all very silly, sadly not surprising . Not all disabled people feel less of a human being and are grateful for the wonderful support they receive in general and I am one of them.

MOnica......are you disabled?

According to my GP I am severely disabled and I certainly would not be offended by that description from a taxi driver.
Top points to him for trying to get the best parking spot.

It does seem as if the driver was trying to be helpful. I think that would count most with me. Besides, I'd probably assume I hadn't heard correctly what he said.

No, I'm not disabled, Riverwalk but DH is registered blind so a Blue Badge holder.

I did say I could understand how the remark could offend.

DH would have given the driver a tip for getting him as close as possible.

I’ve been a Disabled. And at an airport, an Assisted. And it didn’t bother me. I was at the time. I’d rather be that than a Person of Limited Mobility!

I'm disabled, I'm a wheelchair user and can't stand without assistance or aids, I can use crutches and move quite well once standing but not for long. I wouldn't be offended just pleased he'd attempted to get me as close to my destination as possible. If I was offended by something someone said either to or about me I would take it up with them at the time.

It is polite to refer to the person first. Disability, if requiring mention, second.
From many years of personal experience.

Not offended, but consider it discourteous. It is demeaning and turning a person into a thing, which in the ordinary discourse of life, should not be done. My opinion of anyone, with any level of language and education who used a term like this would drop considerably.

When it is used in a closed group, like between paramedics and other medical staff, it is a shorthand where information has to be conveyed quickly, and life and death decisions need to be made. Most professions have their jargon and shorthand, but it should be kept in house.